Cologne court bars marketing elements from mandatory wine QR-label pages

The Cologne decision

In case 4 K 6494/25, the Cologne Administrative Court upheld an order against a food retailer whose wine-bottle QR codes opened pages containing the legally required ingredient lists and nutrition declarations alongside the retailer’s corporate logo and a button marked “More information.” The ruling, issued on September 24, concerns EU wine-labeling rules for electronic disclosures and, according to the legal analysis by IT-Recht Kanzlei, has not yet become final.¹

The button revealed customer reviews, taste descriptions, grape varieties and other product information, displayed over the ingredient and nutrition material. The local food-control authority ordered the retailer to remove both the logo and the button from existing pages and to exclude them from future versions. The retailer challenged the order, arguing that its logo merely identified the company and that the button was neutral because users had to click it before seeing the additional content.¹

Why the logo and button were prohibited

The court based its decision on Article 119(4) and Article 119(5) of EU Regulation No. 1308/2013. These provisions allow certain mandatory wine information to be supplied electronically but prevent it from being displayed together with information intended for sales or marketing. The court interpreted the restriction as covering not only direct advertising for a wine but also material capable of promoting either a product’s sales or a company’s marketing.¹

On that interpretation, the retailer’s logo was itself impermissible: even without an explicit sales message, it could reinforce recognition of the business and influence later purchasing decisions. The court rejected the claim that the logo was necessary to reassure consumers that they had opened the correct page, noting that identification could be provided more neutrally through the product name or the legal notice.¹

The court also treated the “More information” button and the material behind it as one unit. Promotional content therefore does not fall outside the ban merely because it appears only after an additional click. The analysis linked this approach to European Commission wine-labeling guidance published on November 24, 2023, which says that links to a winery website or online shop may themselves constitute marketing when placed on a mandatory e-label page.¹

Scope of the electronic-label rules

For wine products made from December 8, 2023, EU rules permit the full ingredient list and nutrition declaration to be delivered electronically, including through a QR code, subject to specific conditions. The linked page is not an ordinary commercial product page: it performs a legally prescribed information function and is consequently subject to stricter limits on advertising.¹

The ruling does not require ordinary online-store wine pages to remove logos, reviews or other lawful promotional content. Sellers may continue marketing wine on standard e-commerce pages, although separate distance-selling rules require consumers to receive mandatory food information before purchase. The decision applies specifically to pages used for required electronic wine disclosures.¹

Other physical-label obligations remain. When nutrition details are supplied electronically, the bottle must still state the energy value, and required allergen information must remain on the physical label. Commission guidance also says the QR code should be accompanied by a heading that includes the word “ingredients”; an information symbol alone is insufficient.¹

Responsibility for outsourced pages

The retailer remained responsible even though an outside service provider operated the linked pages. Relying in part on Article 8(5) of EU Regulation No. 1169/2011, the Food Information to Consumers Regulation, the court found shared responsibility because the retailer had arranged for the QR codes to be put on the bottles, was identified as responsible for the data set and knew the circumstances underlying the violations. Outsourcing the technical implementation did not remove its compliance duties.¹

This reasoning may affect producers, merchants and private-label businesses using centralized digital-labeling services: an operator that controls the QR page’s content can remain liable when an external compliance provider builds or hosts it. The analysis distinguished such operators from pure resellers that have no influence over the electronic labeling of wines produced by others.¹

For a reseller that does not affect the food information, Article 8(3) of Regulation No. 1169/2011 is more pertinent: it may not sell products it knows, or should professionally know, are noncompliant. The court did not directly decide the extent of reseller liability, though its broad description of review obligations could encourage authorities to demand closer scrutiny from resellers.¹

Orders, fine and remaining uncertainties

The court upheld requirements to remove the logo and button from the affected pages, design future pages accordingly and provide proof of implementation within four weeks. It also upheld a threatened coercive fine of €10,000 for renewed violations on future pages. Only the part of the threatened fine concerning alterations to existing pages was canceled, because the authority had not specified a compliance deadline for those changes.¹

Some design questions remain unresolved. The court did not specifically address product photographs, but the legal analysis advised caution because images may also promote sales. Repetition of neutral information already printed on the bottle may present less risk, although references to grape varieties and grape origin were regarded as sales-promoting in the circumstances of this case.¹

The decision could have broad consequences because producers, importers, distributors and private-label sellers commonly use QR disclosures to preserve space on physical labels. Although the ruling is not final, it indicates that German regulators and courts may require these mandatory pages to use a plain format confined to required consumer information, rather than combining regulatory disclosure with a branded commercial experience.¹